Category: Riverside

BY ADAM M. SCHENCK “You can’t go home again,” goes the saying, but why? Because not only has the place changed, you’ve changed as well—and home no longer exists. That conflict is the source of all nostalgia, a word which derives from the Greek “nostos” (home) and “algos” (pain).  We…

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BY ADAM M. SCHENCK On the eighth floor of 528 Hennepin Ave. in downtown Minneapolis sits the Illusion Theater, home of the former Hennepin Center for the Arts. A trip up an elevator will place you in a space entirely dedicated to theater with an eye on personal and social…

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BY ADAM M. SCHENCK “Bars and Measures,” like the emotive Guthrie play “Disgraced,” takes as its theme the intersection of Islam, terrorism and our politics. The characters have their traits and flaws: Bilal (Ansa Akyea) is a hotheaded convert to Islam and a talented jazz bassist. His younger brother Eric…

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BY TONY BOUZA The NYPD I entered on 1/1/53 had a Police-woman’s Bureau (adopting the androgynous “police officer” came about 20 years later and the police union is still called “The Patrolman’s Benevolent Association” —a classic anachronism).  There were maybe 150 females in a department of over 20,000, and they…

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BY ED FELIEN Mayor Hodges is asking for a 5.5% increase in property taxes for more police: “The investments I make in public safety represent more than 70 percent of all the new ongoing investments that I propose for next year.” She’s asking for $1,305,000 to hire 15 new officers…

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BY JOHN KARRIGAN Things are still not good in the park but I will try to find some good things. After a long absence of American Goldfinches in the park, I saw one pair on the lakeshore, on the southeast of the lake about 10 days ago. Today (Aug. 30)…

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BY CHRISTOPHER HARRISON ELDRIDGE Seven years ago the corner of 38th and Chicago was in a state of decay. Lots had been vacant and boarded for decades: few businesses; no community activity; no development.  In the words of Victoria Lauing, “There was a hunger for change.”  In response to that…

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BY ED FELIEN The City Council voted on Friday, Aug. 5, to deny petitions to allow us to vote on two proposals that would greatly benefit the public welfare. One proposal would have required Minneapolis police officers to carry insurance so the city wouldn’t have to pay out damages when…

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BY ED FELIEN Against amazing odds, Ilhan Omar, Somali-American mother of three, won a difficult DFL Primary Tuesday, Aug. 9.  She got 2,404 votes—almost 41 percent.  Mohamud Noor, another Somali American, received 1,738 votes, or 29.6 percent, and long-time incumbent Phyllis Kahn got 1,726 votes, or 29.4 percent. “We are…

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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Grand Avenue is not the grandest avenue in Saint Paul; it’s not even the grandest one nearby. That would be Summit Avenue, home of the Governor’s Mansion, the James J. Hill House, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s and his buddy Garrison Keillor’s little places. But it’s clear…

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BY CARLA WALDEMAR Bradstreet Neighborhood Craftshouse 1930 Hennepin Ave. S. 612-871-1200 www.bradstreetcraftshouse.com Back in Ought Nine when Bradstreet Craftshouse operated in the belly of the Graves Hotel downtown, the cocktail cognoscenti love-love-loved it. Me, too, for the inventive small plates slid across the bar along with that martini glass. But…

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BY ED FELIEN New England is beautiful in the fall.  The leaves slowly turning.  The summer lingering softly into crisp mornings.  And Smith College was picture perfect.  “Why, it’s Paradise,” said Jenny Lind in the middle of the 19th century.  And, so, Smith College named the pond in the middle…

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BY ED FELIEN Now, they take him and they teach him And they groom him for life And they set him on a path where he’s bound to get ill Then they bury him with stars, sell his body like they do used cars Now, there’s a woman on my…

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BY ASHLEY FRAY I hated white boys after that thing with A.J. He had said he would not date outside his race. Inside I resolved that I would not either. I resolved inside myself that I was no longer biracial, I was Black. I even ignored my white mother. We…

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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE This year Franklin Avenue’s Open Streets celebration will be on Aug. 21, going from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The boundaries of the Franklin Avenue festival are Portland Avenue in the west and 28th Avenue in the east. Who else closes their streets to rampant fuel-burning…

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